The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1887-01-22

certainly be long before the festival OF
Halloween becomes a. much thing OF
the past as has practically become the
Guy Fawkes celebration on the 9th oil
November. Long before the Christian
faith made way among the untutored
people of ancient Britain, the Druids
had performed special rites on what is
now known as Hallowmas Eve; fires
were lit deep in remote forests, upon
outlying spurs of hills. even upon the
great plains that stretched between
dense forests and partially cleared
woodlands; mystic rites were per-
formed, the help of the true God was
implored, the Vaccinations of evil
powers were protested against. The
earliest records bear witness to uni
versal belief that on this night the
powers of darkness muster in great
force, that all supernatural beings hold
revel within the sphere of humanity,
and that therefore it behooved all per-
sons to be careful on this night of all
nights, for any sin committed rendered
the perpetrator liable to be brought
under the influence of some evil spirit
throughout the whole year thereafter.
To this day any child born in Scotland
on the eve of the 3lst of October is sup
posed to be In possession Of certain
my terious faculties, to hold-if not
consciously, at least unconsciously in
the midnight hours when the senses
are obscured by sleep--communion
with the supernatural world. and to be
at all times ; person whose actions,
however eccentric, must be re-
garded charitably. Those who have
read Sir Walter SCOTS Monastery
will remember that he has made use
of this circumstance has space. "She' 3
a. fytie as . Halloween wean" is .
phrase that may even yet be occasions
ally heard north of the Tweed, and in
most of the popular accounts of wiz
ards and uncanny folk the date Of their
births is generally set down as on the
last day Of October. When, later on,
All-hallow Eve became Christian OBJ
servance, the old customs pertinent to
its celebration did not pass into disuse;
on the contrary, they became more and
deeply established. every here and there
accumulating some new superstition.
or annexing some.oh belief that had
long fingered without direct association
with any special day. season or local
ity. Bonfres are still lit on Hallow-
mas Eves though perhaps only one or
two here and there among the menu
bers of the innumerable village COM
fnunities who thus celebrate the great
event know that the practice is rem
nant of paganism; indeed, it is sur
prising. in the use of this as of many
other popular customs, to find how
few know any thing whatever of the
significance of their celebrations. 1--WE
do as our fathers did before u.s. is
sufficient to account for every thing.
In Protestant countries the vigil of ALI
souls is no longer religious observ-
ance, or, at any rate, is not SO in Scot
land, England or Germany. 1t may be
said that Halloween, as we understand
it, is only celebrated by the Teutonic
and Celtic races; with the Latins it is
merely religious vigil, round its OBJ
servance clinging few if any of those
wild legends or superstitions that are SO
plentiful in Scandinavia, Scotland and
ireland. The nearest approach to the
Northern solemnity. and even weird
ness, is the Venetian NOTE dele m0rti,
or night of all the dead; but the relig-
ious ceremonies attendant thereon
take place not on the 31st of October, but
on the eve of All-souls Day, that is, the
day following. It's in Scotland and Ire
land that Halloween is kept in its en-
tirety; in the former, curiously enough.
more in the east, mid-country, and
Lowlands than in the remoter High
land districts; in other words more
among the Scots proper than among
the pure Celts. Tho best chronicle OF
Hallowmas Eve that exists is the we'll
known poem of Burns, containing as it
does some record of the most generally
practiced customs in connection with
this really ancient vigil, but. consider
ing the popularity of the subject, there
is wonderfully limited Halloween"
literature. The succeeding threefold
chronicle may possibly. then, contain
something novel as well as of interest
to many readers. It may be that the
time is not far distant when All-hallows
Eve will lose its hold upon rural as
completely as it has upon urban popu-
lations, when bonhres will he lit only
by a few youngsters, when apples will
cease to be ducked for, and when nuts
will no longer be set ablaze amid the
red-hot Goals; but the writer. for one,
believes that sach Rtlme q not yet At